The Small Business Council of America is a national nonprofit organization which represents the interests of privately-held and family-owned organizations on Federal tax, employee benefit and health care matters. The SBCA represents well over 20,000 businesses, consisting of retail, manufacturing, and service organizations, and represents hundreds of thousands of qualified retirement plans.

“I am deeply grateful for this prestigious honor from the Small Business Council of America,” said Jimenez. “Small business and entrepreneurship play a vital role in the U.S. economy by providing those who are striving to make a difference with an opportunity to own their own business.”

Some of the determining factors the award is focused on include dedication to small business in America as evidenced through promotion of a climate favorable to free enterprise; promotion of a positive image through business, civic or corporate leadership; and leadership in advancing the interest of small business by efforts in affecting the legislative and regulatory environment. Jimenez has been a passionate advocate for the small business field at numerous industry events, panel discussions, and speaking appearances, and has testified before the House and Senate on small business issues. He was previously invited to the White House to lend his advice on the small business field.

On May 1, 2012, several rallies and protests took part in Los Angeles to recognize the contributions workers are making to the country and to protest for better working conditions, fair pay, and immigration reform.

American Apparel (AMEX: APP), which has long advocated for comprehensive immigration reform and criticized the apartheid-like treatment of undocumented workers, will close its factory for several hours May 1 so its workers can join the march and related pro-worker activities.

Hayley Fox/BlogdowntownDov Charney, founder and CEO of American Apparel marched in support of immigrants’ rights at the downtown L.A. May Day parade on Tuesday.

CEO Dov Charney joined the workers to show his support for the fair treatment of all workers, domestically and internationally, and his unwavering support for prompt, fair, and effective immigration reform in the United States.

According to Charney, “Immigration reform is critically important not just from a humanitarian perspective, but also from an economic perspective. Economic growth and stability are adversely affected by the ability of employers to exploit undocumented workers, engage in sweatshop tactics, and drive wages down. Immigration reform will help raise wages and working conditions in Los Angeles and throughout the country.”

From margaritas to Mariachi and everything in between, here’s a rundown of the biggest fiestas taking place across the country.

(1) Los Angeles, California

The Fiesta Broadwayis known as “the largest Cinco de Mayo celebration in the world. The monster street fair, which covers more than 24 square blocks of downtown Los Angeles, draws crowds of more than half a million people. This year the fiesta happened on April 27th – 29th.

Look out for three stages of live entertainment, a Navy flight simulator, and the highly-anticipated annual Green Chili-Bowl Cookoff when the party — now entering its 25th year anniversary kicks off— kicks off with a parade on Saturday, May 5th at 10am.

Look forward to the endless mix of live music, batting cages, and party-goers chomping down on one and half pound turkey legs.

(4) St. Paul, Minnesota

The party begins on Friday, May 4th at 4 p.m. and keeps raging through Saturday night. What should you expect? Six blocks of traditional latin food, music, and dance, a lowrider car show, and a “people’s choice” salsa tasting contest!

The extravagant celebration takes place along the waterfront and showcases a variety of local talent and professional entertainment, including ethnic Mexican ballet dance and a Latin rock band.

(7) San Francisco, CA

The Mission neighborhood in San Francisco celebrates its eigth annual Cinco de Mayo spectacular this weekend in Dolores Park.

The family-friendly, alcohol-free extravaganza is expected to draw more than 5,000 people — just the right number to start a giant Zumba-thon Exercise Class, which will launch the entire event on Saturday, May 5.

Cinco de Mayo is around the corner, and some brands are leveraging the holiday to roll out special promotions and discounts. (For example, Tyson Foods, Tabasco brand and Jose Cuervo’s nonalcoholic margarita mix have teamed up on a “Fiesta of Flavor” retail savings promotion.)

While I love the idea of engaging consumers around special events like holidays (and this Fiesta of Flavor campaigns seems like an innovative, multi-channel winner), I also want to add a few words of caution. If you’re a brand that wants to be more relevant to Hispanics (and you should be), it’s time to start thinking beyond Cinco de Mayo alone. These days, Hispanic marketing campaigns need to be comprehensive, consistent and year-round.

“The U.S. Hispanic population is the largest minority segment and is growing at a dramatic rate towards ethnic plurality, which has already occurred in the most populous states and is beginning to occur among the U.S. baby population. Ethnic plurality refers to the coexistence of numerous ethnicities and races with no one segment in the majority. If the present U.S. economy substantially benefits from Hispanics, the future U.S. economy will depend on Hispanics by virtue of demographic change and the social and cultural shifts expected to accompany their continued growth.”

“The Hispanic market’s size, sheer size, growing clout, and buying power of $1 trillion in 2010 and $1.5 trillion by 2015 require thoughtful understanding about what the market represents to a company’s bottom line.”

“Hispanics are a primary driver of growth and change in the American marketplace, and marketers must recognize that engaging the Hispanic market is now an imperative for future success.”

How can you make an authentic connection to Hispanics so that you can start truly engaging them and provide a relevant and personalized customer experience? Execute, evaluate, evolve.

The biggest mistake you can make in marketing to Hispanics is relying on a one-hit-wonder campaign centered around Cinco de Mayo. Today’s Hispanic population is diverse, discerning and engaged –as such, it demands your consistent, thoughtful attention year-round.

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Hispanics are early technology adopters, with high spending expected on devices and content

Hispanics are early adopters of both tablets and smartphones, and also more likely than whites to go online using mobile devices. All of that activity will add up to a sizeable pile of cash for device retailers and app stores in 2012. According to December 2011 research by advisory firm Zpryme, adult US Hispanics will spend $17.6 billion on mobile tech devices in 2012, a 30% increase over the previous year. It also estimates that Hispanics will spend $501.1 million on mobile apps by the end of the year.

Smartphone penetration was 51.5% among the survey group, which was comprised almost entirely of mobile owners (just 6.1% said they had no mobile phone). This is slightly higher than eMarketer’s estimated 46.9% smartphone penetration for Hispanic mobile users as of the end of 2011. Also, 19% of those polled owned tablets, higher than eMarketer’s estimate of 12.6% for the same period. The high adoption rates for smartphones and tablets among Hispanics are likely due to the fact that they are on average a young group, and more likely to use mobile devices instead of landlines.

Smartphones were at the top of the list of new mobile devices respondents said they planned to buy over the next six months, at 24%. Another 18% said they planned to purchase a tablet. Top activities performed on a tablet included gaming, search and email. Games were also the leading category of mobile app purchased by Hispanics; according to the poll, nearly half of respondents had bought a mobile gaming app.

Social networking, the fourth leading tablet activity among Hispanics, was the No. 2 online activity overall for the group, and Facebook was the favorite destination.

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2012 AND 2013 NOMINATION: THE HISPANIC BLOG/JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ FOR THE MOBILIZER AWARD

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